Local players, Bigger, Falls weigh in on big win

By Conor O'Neill

Published: Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 11:16 PM.

EXTRA POINTS …: East Carolina scored its most points in series history – 16 games – and reached that mark with 6:16 left in the third quarter. The previous high was in a 38-17 victory in 1975. … East Carolina started with the ball for the 15th straight game, which is the second longest streak in the nation. In four games this season, the Pirates have scored touchdowns on every opening possession of the game. … The 366 yards for Renner marks a career-high for the senior. … With its next two games at Virginia Tech and against Miami, North Carolina could be in peril. … North Carolina was without running back Romar Morris and receiver Sean Tapley, both starters.

CHAPEL HILL – In the hysteria of a purple-flavored celebration, it was said on the field that there were “not enough hugs to go around.”

More than anything, that described the postgame scene in the corner of the east end zone at Kenan Stadium, where visiting East Carolina put up a 55-31 victory against North Carolina.

“This is an awesome win. This one is for Pirate Nation,” said East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden. “There’s a lot of people, some even at our own university, that didn’t have a lot of faith in us going into this week. But we always did. We just played our hearts out.”

It’s the first time since 1975 – when East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill was a senior in high school – that the Pirates have won in Chapel Hill.

“This is a big win for the players. If you know me, it’s about the kids,” McNeill said. “I like that locker room right there.”

Carden threw for three touchdowns and ran for another three in what was an offensively dominant game. East Carolina (3-1) piled up 603 yards of offense and beat North Carolina in each aspect.

If the Pirates entered Kenan Stadium as an underdog, they certainly didn’t feel that way about themselves.

ECU linebacker Maurice Falls, a 2010 South Point High graduate, said the East Carolinian, the school’s student newspaper, helped give his team motivation.

“In our school paper, everybody had us losing by like 14 points,” said Falls, who made one tackle. “So I guess we pulled an upset at our own school.”

East Carolina took the opening drive 73 yards for a touchdown, with Carden finding Hardy in the end zone. After Chip Thompson picked off North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner, Carden threw a 7-yard touchdown to Lance Ray.

At 14-0, that was the first sign of trouble for North Carolina (1-3).

“All we have to do is go out, get a stop and get the ball back and it’s seven points,” Thompson said.

The onslaught kept coming.

With Carden spreading the wealth, running back Vintavious Cooper was the consistent threat. Entering the game with 161 rushing yards and 115 receiving yards in three games this season, the senior Cooper recorded career highs in four categories – 186 rushing yards on 35 carries and 70 receiving yards on eight catches.

While McNeill and Carden preached that the Pirates brought a balanced approach to Chapel Hill, Cooper was pleased with his 43 touches. The only negative to his game was going without a touchdown, although Carden ran for three 1-yard touchdowns – two coming on option keepers.

“It wasn’t based on just coming in and trying to have an individual standout game, but it happened and I’m very excited that it did,” Cooper said. “Hats off to the offensive line (Saturday), they played outstanding.

“Our run game led to the pass game. We were able to do a lot more things that we hadn’t done in the past few weeks.”

And what a passing game it was, for a team that only had three passes for more than 20 yards. Yet, Carden racked up 376 yards on 32-for-47 passing.

East Carolina showcased a bevy of receivers who exploited North Carolina’s secondary woes, with 12 Pirates catching passes.

Cooper’s eight catches led the team, but the team-high of 84 yards was accomplished by Ray, a senior who entered the game with six catches for 31 yards in his second season in the program.

“I knew Lance Ray would have a big game this week and he did,” Thompson said. “I love seeing Coop run the ball and I love seeing Lance catch it. We all went to Juco, so it’s real good seeing those guys have a good game.”

Ray had two touchdowns, with his second being a 48-yard catch with 3:33 left on a 4th-and-1. Carden described a team that was content with punting, but wanted to see if North Carolina would jump offsides.

“They kept calling timeouts with not a lot of time left on the clock and fourth down, we just called a play where we try to get them offsides, if they weren’t going to jump we were just going to punt it,” Carden said. “The guy jumped and I threw it up to a big receiver who had a good day.”

It was the final stroke of redemption for a quarterback who threw three interceptions in a miserable 27-6 loss on the same field last season.

“UNC is a little different up here,” Carden said. “Obviously, playing here last year helped me this year. I just knew I wanted to play better than I did last year here.”

On the other side, it was the final stroke for what was an uninspired North Carolina team.

“Definitely not a lot of passion, definitely not a lot of energy,” said Tar Heels running back and 2008 North Gaston grad A.J. Blue. “And sometimes you don’t have to be as talented as a team to win, you just have to have energy and passion and that’s what we lacked.”

North Carolina’s only offensive highlight of the first half was a trick play, with Quinshad Davis taking a toss off a sweep and lofting a 32-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Thorpe.

Renner struggled mightily in the first half, going 11-for-23 for 153 yards. The Tar Heels perked up once East Carolina went up 35-10 less than four minutes into the second half, with Renner throwing three touchdown passes and eventually bringing North Carolina within 45-31 with 13:52 left.

But the last two possessions for North Carolina produced empty results, just like the feeling from the game.

“Very disappointing performance by the Tar Heels,” coach Larry Fedora said. “It was hard for me to find something positive from the sidelines, I’m going to have to look at the film. … (There are) still too many missed tackles defensively, still too many penalties, not playing smart and still not clicking on offense.”

Zeek Bigger, a 2011 Ashbrook High graduate, said he played a little extra Gastonia motivation due to the recent passing of longtime Green Wave athletic trainer Larry Carpenter.

“This was an important game for me,” said Bigger, who wrote “Gashouse” on his cleats. “I knew he was a Pirate fan today.”

Bigger made six tackles in Saturday’s victory, with five of them ironically coming on tackles of Blue.

“We kept talking about how we were taking Gaston County to the game here today,” said Bigger, who considers Blue and his fellow 2011 Ashbrook High graduate Norkeithus Otis among his closest friends even though they play for UNC.

EXTRA POINTS …: East Carolina scored its most points in series history – 16 games – and reached that mark with 6:16 left in the third quarter. The previous high was in a 38-17 victory in 1975. … East Carolina started with the ball for the 15th straight game, which is the second longest streak in the nation. In four games this season, the Pirates have scored touchdowns on every opening possession of the game. … The 366 yards for Renner marks a career-high for the senior. … With its next two games at Virginia Tech and against Miami, North Carolina could be in peril. … North Carolina was without running back Romar Morris and receiver Sean Tapley, both starters.